Prior art computer systems typically include a computer housing which includes a front panel which is commonly referred to as a bezel that attaches to a computer cover which encloses the top, rear, and sides of the chassis. A door attaches to the bezel so as to allow for access to certain components of the computer such as disk drives, tape drives, floppy drives, etc. The door protects the drives and other delicate hardware, but allows access to media in the drives (floppies, CD's, etc.). Prior art computer systems attach the door to the bezel using hinges such that the door swings to one side or the other when the door is opened. Other designs swing up or down to open and close.
With prior art computer systems which use swinging doors, when the computer system is located in an area with restricted space, often the door either cannot be opened or can only be partially opened. In addition, when the door is open the door is subject to damage. The user may brush against or press against the door so as to force the door past the fully open position. This may cause the door to break off. In addition, when the door is open, a user may attempt to move the computer. The movement of the computer may result in the door striking an object so as to break or damage the door.
Recently, computer manufacturers have incorporated door designs which slide open and closed so as to overcome the problems associated with swinging door designs. However, sliding doors often bind (also referred to as racking) on one side of the door or the other when the door is opened or closed. This is particularly true when the width of the door is large relative to the length of the door and when the door slides open and closed lengthwise. Thus, designs which use doors which are narrow in width perpendicular to the direction of travel of the door and have a greater length in the direction of travel are typically used. However, these are relatively small due to the physical constraints imposed by the non-racking requirement.
Computers are often placed on the floor. Thus, users must bend down or reach down to access the computer. In order to provide easy access to the various components of the computer the components to be accessed and the door must be located within the upper region of the computer to be easily accessible to a user. Typically, at a minimum, components are placed in the upper half of the computer so as to allow a user to easily reach the components. This imposes an additional design restraint which limits the size of the door. This design restraint, in combination with the requirement that doors must be narrower in width perpendicular to the direction of travel than in length in the direction of travel means that the size of the door must be relatively small. This is particularly true with respect to doors which travel up and down since the length needs to be less than one half of the height of the computer so as to allow a user to easily reach the components. This dictates that designs with sliding that slide up and down are so narrow that they cannot accommodate more than one removable media drive horizontally, in all but the tallest of computer designs. In these prior art designs, drives are typically stacked one on top of the other within the narrow region covered by the door due to the physical constraints imposed by the non-racking requirement and door location constraints.
Use of removable media has grown in popularity and numerous different types of removable media are currently being used in the industry. Thus, computer systems require a large enough space to accommodate multiple media types. In addition, many manufacturers of removable media, and in particular media which records data on magnetic tape, are manufacturing tape drives and removable media which do not conform to any common standard. Thus, in order to use media produced by different manufacturers, multiple tape drives are required. This increases the need for a larger space to accommodate removable media drives.
What is needed is a door assembly design which does not require a lot of space in the front and side of the computer in order to be opened. In particular, a door assembly design which includes a door which is easy to open and close and which does not bind is required. Also, a door assembly which is wide enough to cover a larger size area is required so that multiple drives may be easily accessed therethrough. The present invention provides an elegant solution that meets the above needs.